ine emotional
eyes, and that flutteringness of the pigeon, and an ever-changing charm
of gesture. Vera had become the best-dressed woman in Bursley. And that
is saying something. Her husband was wealthy, with an increasing
income, though, of course, as an earthenware manufacturer, and the son
and grandson of an earthenware manufacturer, he joined heartily in the
general Five Towns lamentation that there was no longer any money to be
made out of 'pots'. He liked to have a well-dressed woman about the
house, and he allowed her an incredible allowance, the amount of which
was breathed with awe among Vera's friends; a hundred a year, in fact.
He paid it to her quarterly, by cheque. Such was his method.

Now a ball was to be given by the members of the Ladies' Hockey Club
(or such of them as had not been maimed for life in the pursuit of this
noble pastime) on the very night after the conversation about murder.
Vera belonged to the Hockey Club (in a purely ornamental sense), and
she had procured a frock for the ball which was calculated to crown her
reputation as a mirror of elegance. The skirt had--but no (see the
columns of the Staffordshire Signal for the 9th November, 1901). The
mischief was that the gown lacked, for its final perfection, one
particular thing, and that particular thing was separated from Vera by
the glass front of Brunt's celebrated shop at Hanbridge. Vera could
have managed without it. The gown would still have been brilliant
without it. But Vera had seen it, and she WANTED it.

Its cost was a guinea. Well, you will say, what is a guinea to a dainty
creature with a hundred a year? Let her go and buy the article. The
point is that she couldn't, because she had only six and sevenpence
left in the wide world. (And six weeks to Christmas!) She had
squandered--oh, soul above money!--twenty-five pounds, and more than
twenty-five pounds, since the 29th of September. Well, you will say,
credit, in other words, tick? No, no, no! The giant Stephen absolutely
and utterly forbade her to procure anything whatever on credit. She was
afraid of him. She knew just how far she could go with Stephen. He was
great and terrible. Well, you will say, why couldn't she blandish and
cajole Stephen for a sovereign or so? Impossible! She had a hundred a
year on the clear understanding that it was never exceeded nor
anticipated. Well, you will discreetly hint, there are certain devices
known to housewives.... Hush! Vera had alread